


Uneasy

by TuppingLiberty



Series: Super Fucking Baller - Adventure Zone Magnus/Kravitz/Taako [8]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Friendship is Magic, Magic Plays By My Rules, Multi, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 12:02:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12704598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TuppingLiberty/pseuds/TuppingLiberty
Summary: Both Magnus and Lup feel an uneasiness, as if Taako's in trouble - but he can't be, he's in Neverwinter all week interviewing students for his school. What kind of trouble could he get in?





	Uneasy

**Author's Note:**

> I like to play fast and loose with the rules of magic...

“Magnus!” Shannon, his assistant trainer, calls across the field, and both Magnus and Johann turn toward the sound. 

With a rub over his head, verbal praise, and a small treat, Magnus releases Johann to go play with their other free-roaming pups and starts walking toward Shannon. Although many of the dogs have their own enclosures in the kennel building, and he and Shannon work with them one-on-one, they have a small pack of dogs that, while trained, don’t have the temperament or personality to become service dogs, and Johann is their de facto leader. Sometimes, Magnus allows one of these dogs to be adopted by a person of proved worthiness. He has also found that, even if a dog fails the training for something like guiding, they might still be perfect as a therapy dog, and after the Hunger, there's been a large need for therapy dogs in the world. Really, Magnus just wants to bring as many trained dogs to the populace as possible. 

As Johann goes running off to chase one of his friends, and Magnus starts walking across the field, something inside him feels strangely uneasy, but it’s like it’s not coming from inside his own body, which is weird in and of itself. Taako flies into his mind with the thought, which is less strange. It’s not like Magnus doesn’t think about his boyfriend - well, either of them - multiple times a day. The uneasiness being paired with Taako, though - that’s worrying. 

He wipes the frown that’s popped up on his face away with a hand when he sees Darlina and her parents. “Hail and well met, Darlina, Reyony, Farion.” He clasps hands with Reyony and Farion, accepting their greetings before turning to Darlina and placing a gentle hand on the twelve-year-old’s arm. “Are you ready, Darli?”

She grins and nods, her eyes looking off into the distance. “Ready. Is she?”

Darlina was blinded over two years ago during the battle with the Hunger. An explosion, a knocked head, and when she’d awoken, the world had gone dark. 

“Brie is very ready to meet you, and help guide you. She’s been one of our best trainees yet, isn’t that right, Shannon?” 

Shannon beams at the parents. “Brie’s wonderful. I can’t wait for Darlina to get started.” 

They all begin walking together toward the kennel, Darli being guided by her mother. Inside, Magnus opens the door to Brie’s enclosure, and Shannon snaps her fingers, drawing Brie neatly to her side. Magnus watches with quiet satisfaction as Shannon introduces Brie and Darli, and starts teaching Darli the commands. It will take a couple of weeks of training one-on-one with Darli and Brie, but that’s why they built the dorm into the training school. 

Suddenly the uneasy feeling is back, and stronger, and it’s connected, again somehow, to Taako. Like, Magnus hadn’t been thinking about Taako, but now he is, and now he can’t shake the feeling that Taako is in trouble, that Taako might be hurt, which makes no sense. Taako’s been in Neverwinter for the past week, doing interviews and auditions for his wizarding school. They spoke on the stones last night; Taako called him and Kravitz, who’s staying here in Raven’s Roost with him while Taako’s on his trip. Magnus distinctly remembers falling asleep on Kravitz’s chest while Kravitz and Taako were still murmuring to each other. They probably made fun of him for it like they always do. Taako’s totally safe and fine, Magnus tries to tell himself, but the feeling won’t go away, pressing harder inside him, squeezing him tightly until he can’t breathe.

Magnus makes eye contact with Shannon, gets her nod that she’s good (honestly, half of Shannon’s job seems to be putting up with the fact that Magnus and his boyfriends and family are just… a little weird. Not too often your boss is an alien dating another alien and the grim reaper, but Shannon, she rolls with the punches) and walks back toward his quarters. He keeps a small set of rooms here, nothing fancy, just a bathroom, bedroom, and tiny kitchen, for when he needs to be here, or can’t be with Taako and Kravitz for whatever reason. If all three of them are trying to stay in Raven’s Roost, they tend to pull out Taako’s pocket spa, but the bed here is big enough for two, anyway, as he and Kravitz proved last night. 

Johann, who apparently has already tired of running around with the pack, is curled up on a big pillow in the corner, but perks up when he walks in. “Hey, boy,” he says absently, then searches quickly through the pockets of the jacket he discarded earlier when the day got warm for the stones of far speech. 

He commands it to call Taako, telling himself the wizard is going to answer jovially, and complain about how long his day has been, and this horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, the one that reminds him of when Julia died, is just some bad bean soup or something. 

Taako doesn’t answer. 

Magnus tries not to let panic overtake his system. He’s known for that, after all, for being able to keep his head while rushing into action, protecting-

He’s opening his weapons locker before he even knows it. Pulling out his Shield of Heroic Memories, and Rail Splitter. Strapping into his armor. His blood feels like pure adrenaline - it’s  _ pounding _ through him, that something is wrong with Taako. 

He leaves a quick note for Shannon, presses a kiss to Johann’s head - he won’t risk his boy, not when there’s trouble, and he’s sure now, that there’s trouble. 

He commands his stone to call Kravitz as he heads toward the bond portal.

\--------------------- 

“You’ll be coming with me, love,” Kravitz mutters, and behind the necromancer, Lup’s lips twitch at the accent. She’s hidden in shadows, but Kravitz can see the flash of her smile as he distracts their prey. 

Their prey stands in the middle of his lair, and it’s quite a lair, Kravitz notes. ‘Course, maybe if he’d spent a little less time decorating his lair and more time improving his necromancy skills, maybe he would be a little bit harder prey. 

Already, his entire ‘army’ of zombies is strewn at his feet, utterly destroyed. Like Kravitz doesn’t have Turn Undead in his arsenal. 

“I don’t think so!” the necromancer says with an insane cackle.

And really, Kravitz is glad for Lup’s backup, but this guy is so fucking textbook, it’s almost laughable. It’s taking everything he can muster not to roll his eyes, as Lup grins wider. 

The necromancer starts monologuing,  _ goddess fucking- I have places to  _ be,  _ you know, _ Kravitz thinks.  _ Other souls to get to, and  _ your  _ mess to clean up. And you’re not going to win this, you idiot, so can we please just get on with it? _ Technically he’s supposed to let them say their piece, it really helps the Raven Queen decide their punishment and penance, if she has a lot of material to work with. It’s kind of like a “right to remain silent” thing, Taako said once, and as always, Kravitz doesn’t get the reference, but he does wish the damn necromancer would choose  _ not _ to monologue, once, maybe, is it too much to ask? Kravitz sighs and responds with enough words to keep the necromancer’s attention, to keep him from turning around and seeing Lup and how fucked he really is, but then Kravitz notices Lup’s face transform from that silent mirth to one of almost pain. 

In an instant, she swings up the umbrastaff and sends a jolt of blazing blue light from it. The necromancer stumbles, but is far from ready to die, and the next few minutes are given over to a fierce magical battle between him and the two reapers. 

Kravitz sees Lup fall, clutching at her stomach, which makes no sense - the necromancer is firing at  _ him _ right now, and he never saw her take a hit. Deciding time is now of the essence, Kravitz finishes him off, ripping open a portal to one of the citadel’s jail cells and tossing him inside. He reaches through the portal, slams the door shut and locks it, and turns away, letting the portal close behind him. 

Lup’s still on the ground, next to a pile of parts that was once a zombie - goddess, he’s going to have quite the clean up in here, trying to get these souls back to their rightful places. He can see she’s breathing, thank the goddess, as he races to her and kneels at her side. “Lup? What-”

She rolls to the side and heaves, though nothing comes up. Kravitz forces his hand to ungrip from his knee and start to rub her back until the dry heaves stop. She sounds like she’s forcing the air in and out of her lungs, but finally she lets out a shuddery cough. “Taako-” 

Kravitz freezes. “What?”

She starts making her way to her feet, grabbing her umbrastaff from the ground, still clutching at her stomach. “Taako’s hurt. We have to get to him,  _ now.” _ Her voice is fierce, and her eyes are going a kind of glowy-red, the way Kravitz’s do when he takes reaper form. 

Kravitz knows Taako and Lup share a special connection, so while it’s on the tip of his tongue to ask how she knows, he thinks better of it - he’s not going to question anything when Taako’s life is possibly at stake. 

He lifts his scythe to rip open another portal but is stopped by a crackling in his coat - his stone of far speech. 

_ “--Krav--”  _

It’s Magnus’s distressed voice. “Where are you? What’s wrong with Taako?” Kravitz immediately asks into the stone, circling an arm around Lup’s waist to help keep her upright as she winces in pain again. 

“We’re wasting time,” she whispers fiercely, tugging on his clothing.

_ “Taako won’t respond on the stone - you guys feel it too? I’m about to open a portal to him--”  _

“We’ll meet you there,” Kravitz promises, thinking of Taako to find his location, ripping open the portal and dragging himself and Lup through it. 

\--------------

\--A week ago--

“Why are we meeting  _ here, _ sirs?” Angus’s voice has gotten a little deeper, and he’s gotten a little taller, but he still has that innocent quality about him that makes Taako want to ruffle his hair, he notes. 

“Well, Ango, the thing is, this is kind of a  _ secret _ mission,” Taako murmurs, pulling his hat lower as someone walks by their table. 

“Yeah. Loathe as I am to admit it, you’re pretty good at keeping secrets, kid,” Merle says.

“Who exactly are we keeping this secret from?”

“Magn-”

Taako interrupts Merle. “Everyone.” 

“Oh, yeah, everyone. Everyone,  _ including _ Magnus,” Merle adds, tapping his nose, and Taako has to work very hard not to roll his eyes. 

“Listen, Angus, did you find him?” Taako runs his finger around the rim of the glass of ale. He bought it to blend in, but he doesn’t actually want it in his body. 

Angus pulls out the notebook he’s always carrying. “The man you say went by Governor Kalen, sometime before the Day of Song and Story? Well, that wasn’t a whole lot to go on, sirs.” 

“But you’re the world's greatest detective,” Taako says in a coaxing, sing-song voice. 

Angus flashes a grin at them. “Yes, sirs, I am.” 

“‘Atta boy,” Merle murmurs, clapping Angus - perhaps a little too hard - on the back. 

Once Angus has recovered from that, he opens his book again. “The man formerly known as  _ Governor _ Kalen, who’s now just going by Kalen, currently resides somewhere outside of Hogsbottom. I can’t be more specific than that because he has, apparently, taken to a life of crime since the Hunger was defeated.” 

“I don’t think ‘taken to a life of crime’ is accurate. More like ‘continued being an absolute fucker,’” Taako says, clenching his fist. 

“Yes, that would sound about right, from my investigation.” Angus snaps the book shut and looks up into first Taako’s, then Merle’s eyes. “Sirs, when I went looking for this Governor Kalen, of course I had to dig pretty deep into his past, and I was wondering, would this mission of yours have anything to do with the destruction of Raven’s Roost years ago?”

“What? No,” Merle brushes off. 

Angus is nothing if not persistent. “The same Raven’s Roost where Magnus lives now? Where Julia Burnsides is buried?”

“Nope,” Taako hums, popping the ‘p’ sound and taking a drink to cover it up. He looks across the bar to avoid Angus’s staredown. 

“So it’s not the same Governor Kalen that killed-”

Taako’s eyes snap back and he cuts Angus off. “Listen, Ango, thank you for the great work. We’ll take it from here.” He pushes up from the table and tosses a few coins down for a tip. 

“Just you two? Do you think that’s incredibly irresponsible? And dangerous? You don’t even have a fighter with you!” Angus bolts upright and actually looks like he’s going to bar Taako from leaving. 

“Oh, that’s  _ adorable.”  _  He tries to sweep past Angus toward the exit, then sighs, and pulls Angus aside. “Angus, the thing is, what we’re about to do, Magnus can’t know about it. Not like, we’re trying to keep it a secret from him. But like, he  _ literally _ doesn’t remember who Kalen is, and won’t ever. Those bastards in Wonderland stole it from him. So now  _ we’re _ going to take care of it, take care of this Kalen character, who’s a really bad fucking dude. That’s like, our old job. We did this sort of thing all the time.” 

_“With_ Magnus,” Angus points out, still looking concerned. 

“Kid, irresponsible and dangerous are practically our middle names,” Merle says, his hand on Angus’s shoulder. “We’re going to be okay. We just have to get this done.” 

“And if you try to involve Magnus, he’s just going to be very confused. It’s really for the best if you let us deal with this, okay Ango?” Taako’s persuasion check is a Nat 20, and he watches Angus’s face slide away from uneasy. 

“Okay sirs, well. Just- be careful, okay?” He gives them quick hugs and steps aside to let them leave. 

When they’re a distance away from the bar, Merle reaches out and stops Taako’s long strides. “Hold on a second, long-legs. What  _ is _ our plan?” 

“I fight, you heal,” Taako says with a lot more confidence than he feels. He looks down into the eyes of one of his oldest friends. “We have to do this. For Julia.”

Merle looks down at the ground, then back into his eyes, and nods. “For Julia.” 

\---------

\--Last Winter--

It doesn’t snow in Raven’s Roost; they’re too far south for that. Still, it’s a little chilly as Taako holds one of Magnus’s hands, and Kravitz has an arm looped around Magnus’s waist, both lending him their support. Magnus’s free hand clutches a bouquet, and there are tears glinting in his eyes as Merle reads from something he prepared - not the Extreme Teen Bible, but something of his own writing.

It’s the first time Magnus has allowed them all to visit Julia with him on her birthday. 

As Kravitz pulls Magnus into a hug after he places the flowers on her gravestone, Taako locks eyes with Merle, and they both nod, almost imperceptibly. 

_ This is for Julia. _

\--------

It takes a few days of travel to Hogsbottom - Taako has to admit, with glass cannonball travel, then magical reaper boyfriend portal travel, then bond portal travel, he’s gotten kind of spoiled, and by the second day in the wagon he’s contemplating murder - and another day of asking around before they narrow down Kalen’s hideout.  

They do a scouting mission at the hideout, and somehow miraculously don’t get caught, despite their bumbling. Back at the inn, they make their game plan, and retire to separate rooms to prepare themselves. Taako does this the only way he knows how: opening up a connection to Maggie and Krav through the stones and talking until all three of them are too sleepy to continue. 

The morning dawns bright and clear, and Taako has a fierce determination in his heart, right where he carries Magnus with him always. He looks toward Merle as they approach the hideout, and sees the same determination there. 

Everything seems to go right for them, in those first few minutes. Taako’s spells are hitting like Jess the Beheader in a champion fight, and Merle actually managed to throw Shield of Faith up before they rushed in, so the damage has been slight. 

Of course, they’re loaded down with healing potions, too. Taako, in no way, shape or form intends this to be a suicide run. This is a straight up revenge mission, this is. 

They clear the first floor of the hideout, and things are going so well that Taako barely notices the swipe across his belly that one bandit gets in; he’s riding too high on the adrenaline. 

Upstairs, they run into trouble; they’re both getting tired, is the thing. Spell slots getting used up, and their intelligence may have been a little too hastily gathered - there’s a lot of these bandit fuckers. They get bogged down in the hallway, having to take cover to exchange blasts. Merle does something quick and temporary to his stomach wound, which is finally starting to hurt, and the loss of blood makes him queasy. 

He pushes past it, and into the final room - just Kalen and three henchmen, so two magic-users and two physical fighters. They’re extremely outnumbered, and Taako wishes deep inside him for some last well of strength - he can’t have gotten this far only to fail.  _ They can’t fail Julia and Magnus. _

Everything seems to work in slow motion as Merle pushes him out of the way of a spell, and they take cover behind a convenient couch. He locks eyes with Merle, trying to figure out the plan, wondering if they’re doomed- and then-

And then: 

Simultaneously, around the room, five portals open up - three of them bond portals, and two he recognizes as reaper portals. If it was slow motion before, now time freezes in the room as their friends,  _ no,  _ their  _ family _ emerges from their portals. Magnus is dressed head-to-toe in his adventuring gear, his Shield of Heroic Memories and Rail Splitter at the ready, looking just like he did the last time Taako saw him like this, fighting off the Hunger. To the left of him, Davenport steps out of a portal looking like he’s stepping off of the high sea, which was pretty likely, to be honest. His last postcard said he was headed back out. Next to him are Kravitz and Lup, who looks as woozy as Taako feels, and beside them is Barry, who’s already reaching out to check on Lup. And finally, finally, almost tentatively, there stands Lucretia, looking stern but also hesitant. They haven’t exactly been the closest of buddies - but close enough, apparently, to be called here by he and Merle. Behind Lucretia, Angus pokes his head out, wand at the ready.

Taako and Merle sag against the couch. “Thank Pan,” Taako whispers to Merle as the group forms around them, firing back against Kalen and his henchmen, who’ve taken cover behind Kalen’s desk. Lucretia lays her hand on Taako’s stomach and heals it completely, and he smiles up at her. 

“What the  _ actual _ fuck, Taako?” Magnus’s voice is fierce and on edge. 

Kravitz doesn’t sound any more chill but he takes Taako’s bloody hand and clasps it, along with Magnus. “We thought you were in Neverwinter.” 

“There happens to be an- um. A real bandit problem in Hogsbottom.” 

“And  _ you’re _ dealing with it?” Lup asks incredulously, looking a lot less green around the gills now. She pops up over the couch to shoot a spell at one of the henchmen. 

“Sure, why not?” Merle says, all innocence. “We’re men of the people, now. We help where we can.” 

“Even I can tell you’re full of shit, Merle,” Lucretia replies, though a smile is threatening to tip her lips up. She puts her hand in the middle of them. “You guys ready?”

Everyone throws a hand in, with a sure-sounding, “Ready.” 

Magnus nods, but just before they’re about to overturn the coach and attack, Taako whispers fiercely, “Wait!” All eyes look back at him expectantly. “Magnus gets the big one in the middle, okay?” Merle nods fiercely, and the rest of them agree, though they’re confused. 

Plan set, they burst around the couch and attack. It’s easy, now, with the nine of them. The henchmen go down easily, and Kalen gives up, his hands up as Magnus holds Rail Splitter to his throat. 

Kalen’s eyes widen.  _ “You.” _

It’s not necessarily an uncommon reaction to any of them, not after the Day of Story and Song, but Taako and Merle glance at each other worriedly. 

“Yeah, it’s me,” Magnus says flippantly. “Magnus the Hammer Burnsides, and you’re coming with us to the local authorities.” 

_ It’s not supposed to go like this,  _ Taako thinks.  _ But maybe prison is revenge enough? _

Magnus turns for a second - after all, Kalen couldn’t be stupid enough to try something with the wands and staves of three reapers, four wizards, and one cleric pointed at him. Except he does, the jackass; he pulls a knife from his sleeve and slashes it toward Magnus, and Taako has a split second to yell, “This is for Julia!” before the man is completely obliterated by 8 spells and an axe to the stomach.  


Kalen collapses, so very extremely dead, and Taako rushes in to inspect Magnus for damage. The knife swipe apparently glanced off of his armor, and Taako sags in relief. “Thank the gods,” he mumbles, looking into Magnus’s eyes and smiling. 

It takes Taako a second to realize Magnus isn’t smiling back, and the room has gone deadly quiet. “For Julia?” Magnus whispers, eyes boring into his. 

Taako chews his lip. “You’re not going to understand. Like, literally, you’re not going to get it. Like when we were all woo-wooed by Fisher and Junior.”

“Try me,” Magnus says, deadly serious. 

“That’s the man that killed Julia,” he replies.

Sure enough, a look of confusion crosses Magnus’s face. 

“It’s true,” Merle pipes up. “The memory got taken from you in Wonderland, but you kind of, um. Passed the mission onto us? Told us to find Kalen and kill him. And, well.” He gestures to the man dead on the floor. 

“I-” Magnus looks down at the man, then closes his eyes. “I don’t- nothing feels different.” 

Taako signals Kravitz, who rips a portal back to Taako’s place that’s big enough for everyone to step through. “I think we have a lot to talk about. Let’s not do this here.” He goes through the portal. 

At his house, he immediately heads to the kitchen to start putting together something for everyone to eat, because he can’t not. He’s just- he can’t not be doing something right now, it feels like. Everything is jittery. 

Silently, the rest of the crew make their way into the kitchen, where Lup immediately takes the knife from him and presses him down onto a stool. Probably a good call, the way his hands are shaking, but now the aftermath gets worse with nothing to concentrate on, and with Magnus and Kravitz both looking at him as if- as if he’s some type of alien.

There’s a calming hand on his shoulder, literally, the touch feels like it’s washing soothing warmth through his body, and he looks over, with a bit of surprise, at Lucretia. He manages a small smile. “Thanks for coming to help,” he whispers; it’s a hard sentence to get out, given their history, but he’s also a bit lacking in pride at the moment. He kind of wants to just go lay down in a dark, quiet room.

She looks surprised. “Anytime, Taako. I hope you know that.” She squeezes his shoulder. 

“How’d you know we were in trouble?”

“Well, Angus contacted me, but I was already feeling sort of- uneasy? I think that’s the best way to describe it, before he even told me what he knew.” 

“I was feeling uneasy, too,” Davenport says. “And then it was like - like I got slammed with this urgent need to port to you, Taako.” 

There are nods around the island from all of the IPRE crew, and one by one, they each tell their story of the uneasiness, followed by the urgent need to find Taako. 

“I thought Lup was actually hurt,” Kravitz murmurs. “Exactly where-” His eyes look down at the blood covering Taako’s shirt, the slash mark, and for the first time, Taako realizes how bad he looks right now. 

Shit, no wonder Magnus and Kravitz won’t actually look at him, and when they do, they look scared. If he wasn’t out of spell slots- “Lup, can you?” he gestures to himself, and she nods, and snaps, and Taako’s no longer looking like the teenage virgin in a slasher film. 

“So obviously bond magic is - seems to be growing beyond our previous knowledge of it. I think maybe Lucretia, Barry and I need to continue our studies on it,” Lup says, pushing a plate of cut fruit and veggies across to them. “It seems to work strongest between the seven of us, since Angus and Kravitz didn’t feel anything, but is that because we’re not from here?”

Lucretia picks up the thread. “Or perhaps it has to do with our prolonged exposure to the bond engine itself?”

“Or prolonged exposure to each other? If you get a century together, you get to form a pretty close bond,” Barry posits. 

There’s a silence in the kitchen then, with Magnus standing in the back of the room, arms folded over his chest, obviously trying to process. The others look between Magnus, Merle, and Taako, and decide to make their excuses to leave. Davenport salutes everyone and walks out the front door; he doesn’t need a portal, not really, preferring the open road. Lup, Lucretia, Barry, and Angus are all excitedly theorizing about bond magic, and Lup decides to make them a portal back to the Bureau of Benevolence headquarters to continue their research. 

She watches everyone go through, then comes back to hug Taako fiercely. “You are  _ not _ allowed to be on my list for a long, long time, brother.”

“Got it.” He presses a kiss to her cheek and watches her go.

“Indeed, I have a feeling both the Raven Queen and Istus would have my head, or my scythe, for letting you die early, Taako,” Kravitz says, coming to sit beside Taako on a stool, then takes his hand. 

“Early, huh?” Taako grabs a pepper slice, trying to regain some energy.

“Forget I said that.” 

Magnus eyes them, but stays away. “Merle, Taako- I don’t get what happened today, other than that we killed some bandits, and it has something to do with Julia, which my mind can’t wrap around. But- my brain seems to want to say thank you?”

Taako shrugs, and Merle just takes a huge bite of apple. “It was for Julia,” Taako says quietly. 

“For Julia,” Merle agrees. 

“Is there...are there...any  _ more _ parts to this, um, quest for Julia?” Magnus asks, his voice careful, not betraying anything. 

“Nope, that was pretty much it,” Taako replies flippantly. 

Magnus sinks onto a stool. “Oh, thank the gods. Taako- Merle- Taako- today I thought- I thought you _died,_ Taako. I don’t want to feel that  _ ever _ again.” 

Taako unwraps his hand from Kravitz’s and goes to sit in Magnus’s lap, curling his arms around Magnus’s neck and leaning their foreheads together. “I’m sorry. But it was also something I had to do.  _ We _ had to do.” He gestures to Merle, who nods. 

“We were maybe a little underprepared. A little rusty. It’s been a few years, you know.” Merle crunches on another apple. He meets Magnus’s eyes. “But we made you a promise, and I’m trying to do better about keeping my promises.”

Magnus nods stiffly, even as his arms wrap around Taako’s waist and hold him tight. “I understand keeping a promise.”

“What I don’t understand,” Kravitz says softly, and he sounds like he has the same mix of scared and hurt Magnus does, “is why you didn’t ask for help. You were- Taako, Merle, you were  _ incredibly _ outnumbered, and you’re both so vulnerable-” 

Taako reaches his hand out to take Kravitz’s again. “I’m sorry. We should have asked, probably, but-” 

“But it was- it was just kind of  _ our _ thing. Something we needed to do,” Merle murmurs. “Sure am glad you guys saved our asses, though, not gonna lie.” 

Merle looks about as tired as Taako feels, and Taako suggests they take the snack into the living room, maybe sleep there. He doesn’t want Merle to be alone -  _ is that the bond magic, again?  _ Taako thinks, then makes a note to himself to tell Lup about it later - and Magnus and Kravitz look like they’re unwilling to let Taako out of their touch, let alone sight. 

Merle, with his ‘choose joy’ attitude, sinks happily into the overstuffed armchair and starts chatting about his life by the ocean, catching them all up on everything. Magnus, Kravitz, and Taako make a nest of pillows and blankets on the floor, Taako in the middle. They stay like that for a long while, talking about everything but what happened, until they fall asleep like that, in the living room, all four of them. 

\-----------

When Taako wakes the next morning, Magnus is gone, but not far: Taako finds him puttering away in the kitchen, frying up bacon. “Figured I’d get us some protein, anyway,” he attempts to joke, then just pulls Taako into his arms and breathes him in. “I love you.” 

“I love you too, my dude.” 

Magnus is silent for a long while, while Taako just lets him hold him.

“It’s different than Julia,” Magnus finally says.

“I know,” Taako murmurs against his cheek.

“I don’t want that to hurt you.” 

“It doesn’t,” Taako replies honestly. “We didn’t do this to- because of that. I didn’t do this to…  _ prove _ my love to you, or anything. Or to put Julia to rest, or something. It wasn’t that at all.” 

Magnus is quiet for a moment, then nods. “I just needed to make sure.” 

“Merle and I did it because we love you, Magnus, differently, sure, but we both love you. And it wasn’t right, what happened in Wonderland. It was a ledger that needed balancing. A man who needed killing.” Magnus nods. “Plus, that guy was a total dick. When I scouted around? Found out he stole from the orphanage. The  _ orphanage. _ I mean we literally defeated the Big Bad, the Evil Incarnate, the Man in Black, but this guy  _ stole from an orphanage.” _

“I resent that Man in Black comment.”

They turn, and smile at Kravitz, who’s leaning against the door jamb. “No offense, babe,” Taako jokes, then opens their hug up to him. 

Once Kravitz is settled in, and Magnus has checked to make sure the bacon isn’t burning, Kravitz presses a kiss to Taako’s cheek. “And there’s absolutely no more revenge missions planned?”

“I mean, I think I’m clear now,” Taako says. “Unless you’ve got someone in your dark past who’s ass I need to kick?”

“I think I’m clear.” 

“Where’s the party at?” Merle calls from the other room. 

“In here, my man,” Taako calls back, then turns to pull out some bread for toast. Toast and bacon would have to be good enough this morning. 


End file.
